Burning Sands

by Arthur E. P. Brome Weigall

  CHAPTER XXVII--THE FLIGHT

  For a long time Daniel lay awake upon his bed at the top of the tower,while his thoughts passed through a number of recurrent phases. Morethan once he felt that he had made a mountain out of a molehill; butthis attitude of mind was dismissed by the recollection that, whetherMuriel truly loved him or not, she had come to him "on the sly," and, byplanning this surreptitious interlude (for she had meant it to be nomore than that) she had invested their relationship with that veryatmosphere of intrigue which he so strongly resented.

  He saw in her action the influence of that small section of Londonsociety which he abhorred, wherein the women appeared to him to besecret courtesans who would neither abide by the traditional law noropenly flout it; and he was determined either to eradicate thatinfluence or to lose Muriel. He was not entirely clear in his mind as towhat he was going to do with her in the Oasis for this fortnight; but ofthis he was sure, that she needed a lesson, and that he was going totake her in hand, remorselessly, whatever might be the consequences.

  The moon, in the last quarter, rose above the far-off hills while yet hewas wearily thinking, and realizing thus that daybreak was not more thantwo hours distant, he obliged himself by force of will, to compose hismind for sleep. In this he was successful and presently he fell into adeep slumber from which it would have been difficult to wake him.

  Meanwhile, Muriel had also watched the dim light of the rising moon asit slowly spread over the desert. She had slept for two or threehours--a miserable sleep of exhaustion; but when she was awakened by thehooting of an owl outside the window, she lit her lamp and made nofurther attempt at repose.

  Her one idea was to get away from Daniel and to go back to Kate Bindane,who would still be alone at El Homra until the end of the coming day.She did not want to wait until daybreak, for if Daniel were awake hewould perhaps try to stop her; and now the slight illumination given bythe moon encouraged her to make her immediate escape. She could hardlymiss the road: all she had to do was to mount her camel and ridestraight ahead.

  Hastily she put on her clothes, and soon she had crept out into therefectory, carrying her heavy dressing-case in her hand. She had slippedher revolver into one of the pockets of her skirt, and in the other shehad placed a packet of chocolate unused on the previous day, while herwater-bottle was slung across her shoulder.

  Her heart was beating, and she was frightened at the prospect of thelong journey alone, but there was no practicable way of getting intotouch with her dragoman, and she was obliged, therefore, to steelherself for the adventure.

  By a stroke of good luck she found the three dogs wandering about therefectory, and they were thus not startled into barking: they followedher with wagging tails as she made her way to the camel-shed outside.There were no doors to open, nor bolts or bars to unfasten; and shecould hear the servants snoring at the other end of the building.

  Creeping into the shed, lantern in hand, she found her camel andDaniel's kneeling side by side upon the sand, dreamily chewing the cud,and, having learned the tricks of the stable during her journey fromCairo, she quickly slipped a rope around the bent knee-joint of theforeleg of her own beast, thus preventing it from rising.

  The saddle was heavy, and was furnished with a number of confusingstraps; but, after a somewhat prolonged struggle, she managed at lengthto adjust it, and to tie her dressing-case on to the back pommel. Then,removing the tether, she held the nose-rope in one hand, and prodded theunwilling beast with her toe until it floundered to its legs, snarlingand complaining as is the habit of the breed.

  Leading it out into the open she buckled the girth in a fashion, but forsome minutes she failed to make the creature kneel so as to allow her toclimb into the saddle. She tugged at the nose-rope, and tapped its legswith her crop, but presently she was obliged to desist, owing to herfear that its whining grumbles would be heard.

  She was in despair and was very near to tears, when suddenly sherecollected that the native makes a certain noise in the roof of hismouth, like the rolling of a German _ch_, when he wishes his camel tokneel; and no sooner had she imitated this sound than the creature wentdown on its knees with the utmost docility. She clambered into thesaddle with a sigh of relief, and a moment later was trotting silentlynorthwards while the dogs stared at her in mild surprise as they stoodin the light of the lantern which she had left burning at the doorway ofthe shed.

  The soft pads made little sound as she passed under the outer walls ofthe monastery, and, looking up at the tower, she saw no signs ofmovement, for Daniel was fast asleep. Nor was there any indication ofhuman life in the Oasis below her as she trotted along the cliff-tops,but the sporadic barking of the village dogs much alarmed her.

  The day was now breaking in the east, while the moon also gave a certainamount of light; and she therefore found the track with ease, and inless than half an hour had left the Oasis behind and was heading outinto the open desert across the high ground.

  The excitement of her escape had prevented her from thinking of heractual sorrow, and now she was too nervous, too overawed by hersurroundings, to be conscious of more than a general horror. A sixhours' ride across an absolutely uninhabited and lifeless stretch ofcountry, with nothing but a packet of chocolate for sustenance, waslikely to be a physical ordeal; and already she knew that the nervousstrain was going to be very great.

  As has been said, there were three wells upon the route, and the nearestof these, some six miles from the Oasis, she reached within the hour.The sun being now well above the horizon, she did not halt; for sherealized that Daniel, on his tower top, would already have been awakenedby its rays, and would perhaps be even now in pursuit.

  This, in fact, was the case. When he had descended from the tower he hadquickly discovered her flight, and had sent Hussein scuttling into thestable, while he himself put on a shirt and a pair of trousers andslipped his bare feet into the old canvas shoes which lay to hand.

  Snatching his water-bottle and a tin of biscuits from the living-room,and pocketing his pipe and pouch, he ran through the refectory like acharging bull, sprang on to his camel, and was off and away before hisservant had recovered from his first astonishment.

  "_Walla kilma!_" he shouted to the staring Hussein, which means "Not aword!" And the loyal native thereupon went back to the kitchen,muttering to himself "His Excellency has gone hunting," as though toconvince himself of the veracity of the statement, which, after all, wasnot very far removed from the truth.

  As Daniel raced along in the sparkling sunshine he could detect here andthere the marks of Muriel's camel upon the tracks before him, and heknew that, at the pace at which he was travelling, he would have thechance of overtaking her before she had accomplished half the journeyback to El Homra; for he had not been long asleep, and her departurecould not have taken place earlier without attracting his attention. Hetherefore settled down to a protracted and pounding chase, and in thebrisk morning air his steed did not fail to show its mettle.

  He was travelling at twice Muriel's pace, and he caught sight of her,and she of him, as he descended from the high ground into the wide plainwhich lay between the two oases. She was over a mile ahead of him, amere speck, like a little fly crawling across a vast brazen dish, and aconsiderable time passed before he had come close enough to observe hermovements.

  He saw her now urging her camel forward, beating it with her crop. Herhat had been discarded, and her hair had fallen down and was beingtossed out behind her by the north wind like a fluttering banner.

  She turned to glance at him, and he saw her flushed face, as again shebelaboured her tired beast. He was about to call out to her whensuddenly her camel stumbled. The loosely buckled girth gave way, and thesaddle slipped over to one side. For a moment she clutched on to it,while her camel went round in a circle as though about to overbalanceand fall on top of her. Then she slid to the ground, fell on her handsand knees, picked herself up, and set off running like a maniac, whilethe startled camel went staggering off to one side.
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  Daniel did not slacken his pace, and in a few moments he was close uponher heels.

  "Stop!" he called, coming to a halt. "It's no good running like that!"

  For answer she suddenly swung round and faced him, panting anddistracted. Her hand dived into her pocket, and issued again holding herrevolver. He saw the sunlight flash upon it as she pointed it at him.

  His camel was well trained, and he did not wait to tether it. Vaultingfrom the saddle he walked rapidly towards her, regardless of the menaceof the weapon which covered him.

  "Don't dare to come any nearer," she gasped, "or I'll shoot you, youbrute!"

  He stretched out his arms. "Very well, shoot!" he said. "Good God! D'youthink I value my life now?"

  He saw her fingers press the trigger. There was a flash, a sharp report,and the bullet went singing past his ear, not close enough, perhaps, tosuggest that she had taken aim at him, but not so distant that he couldignore it. He ran at her, therefore, and grasped her wrist, so that therevolver fell to the ground. Instantly she flung herself upon her kneesand grabbed at it with her left hand, but he dragged her back by herarm, pulling her to her feet.

  "You beast!" she exclaimed. "Leave me alone!" and she struck at him withher free hand. Her eyes were flashing, and her hair was tossed about hershoulders.

  He put his arm about her, holding her as in a vice, and, stooping, hepicked up and pocketed her revolver.

  "Now sit down there," he said, lowering her on to the sand, "and getyour breath."

  She saw that there was no use in resisting, and she sat, therefore,glaring up at him as he stood before her.

  He turned his head and glanced at the camels, and as he did so shestretched out her foot and kicked his shins.

  "Ough!" he exclaimed. "Don't do that--it hurts!"

  "Oh, I wish we were near Cairo," she cried. "I'd turn the servants on toyou and have you whipped. Go and fetch my camel!"

  "Yes," he answered, "I'm just going to. And don't you start running awayagain, or I'll not be so gentle with you when I catch you."

  He hastened across the desert, and, without any difficulty, caughtMuriel's wandering and tired animal, and readjusted the saddle. Soon hehad tethered it beside his own; and coming back to her, he sat himselfdown a yard or two away from her, and lit his pipe.

  "Say when you're ready to start back," he said, stretching himself outand resting his head upon his elbow.

  "I'm not coming back with you," she replied. "I'm going back to ElHomra."

  "No, you're not," he told her. "You're going to stay with me for thisfortnight you've so carefully planned."

  She scrambled to her feet, her fists clenched. "If you try to force meto come with you," she burst out, "I shall ... I shall _bite_ you."

  He also stood up. "Now look here," he said. "Understand me: you're goingback with me, whether you like it or not. And if you struggle I shalltie you up. Now, come along quietly."

  He caught hold of her wrist, and led her towards the camels.

  "Take your hand off my arm!" she gasped. "You've got me in your powernow, but you just wait till my father hears of this. He'll have youhounded out of Egypt."

  He did not reply, but releasing her, left her to climb into the saddle.

  "Go and get my crop," she said. "I dropped it somewhere here."

  "Very well," he replied, "but, remember, if you ride off while my backis turned, I'll come after you and tie your hands behind your back."

  Muriel wriggled furiously in her seat, but she knew that it was uselessto attempt to escape. Presently Daniel found her crop and brought itback to her. Then he mounted his camel, and the two of them rode offsouthwards side by side.

  "We shall come across your hat soon," he said. "Be on the lookout forit. You'll get sunstroke without it, in spite of all that mass of hair."

  She uttered something like a growl as she jogged along beside him overthe blazing sand.